State additional chief secretary T C Benjamin has directed the Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak to take necessary action against the poor and badly maintained footpaths in the city.

In a strongly-worded letter,Benjamin said the state of footpaths in the city forces pedestrians to use the carriage way,thus jeopardising their safety. The letter states that in most parts of the city,the footpaths are often dug up for various utilities and are left uncovered. Pedestrians should be given foremost importance and their freedom of movement is paramount to traffic management,he said.

Setting a deadline of one month to put footpaths in order,Benjamin said ward officials should be held accountable for the state of disrepair of footpaths in their area. Ward officers should be held accountable…they should be given a months time to set footpaths right, Benjamin told Newsline. He added that he has had personally experienced the dismal state of footpaths in the city recently.

He said in most cases,the companies dig up footpaths for laying cables and never set them right.

I would still hold the civic administration responsible for such work being left unattended. It is their responsibility that the work is completed, he added.

When contacted,Pathak said the necessary action will be taken. We will soon ensure that all the repair works are completed. Ward officers are looking after the job, said Pathak.

PMC additional city engineer Pramod Nirbhavane said he held a video conference with ward officers to make sure that the work is completed within 15 days. After the letter from the UDD,I have set a deadline of April 21 for ward officer to complete the repair works on footpaths, he said.